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ECRI Institute Addresses Radio-frequency Identification and its Potential in Healthcare
Radio-frequency identification (RFID), a technology used to manage and track inventory and assets. Drivers using electronic toll-collection systems can now cruise through tolls without stopping, and healthcare facilities that have implemented the technology can use it to track medical devices, staff, and patients.
The growing use of RFID in healthcare facilities is examined in ECRI Institute's May 2005 issue of Health Devices. This technology uses a radio-frequency tag that is placed on a person or object, which is then read by a scanning device. In a recent ECRI Institute survey conducted in the USA, just over five percent of responding hospitals have an RFID system in place, almost eight percent are in the process of implementation, and 40 percent plan to implement RFID within two years.
Many facilities have already been using RFID to prevent newborn abductions, and some facilities use them to keep mentally impaired patients from wandering away undetected. More advanced RFID capabilities include an even greater number of potential tracking, locating, inventory, and security functions, such as tracking and matching blood for transfusions, tracking pharmaceuticals, and combating medical product counterfeiting.
ECRI Institute acknowledges that even with its benefits, RFID represents a large investment of time and money, which some healthcare facilities may find too costly. And although healthcare facilities may currently use bar coding for some of the same applications used for RFID technology, ECRI Institute notes it is likely that RFID will be used in tandem with bar coding, primarily due to the cost of RFID implementation.
Like all issues of the Health Devices journal, this issue also includes a section derived from ECRI Institute's international Problem Reporting System. Articles in this section describe medical device hazards investigated by ECRI Institute and include specific recommendations to help healthcare facilities minimize risks. This month's Problem Reporting section includes a discussion of the appropriate temperature settings for cabinets used to warm blankets and solutions, software problems that can cause a particular CT scanner to lock up during CT fluoroscopy, the risks that can result from using defective biohazard bags, and the incorrect measurement of a patient's eye using an ophthalmic ultrasound scanner.
For information on purchasing single or bulk copies of the May 2005 issue of Health Devices, or for more information about membership, contact ECRI Institute by telephone at (+44) 01707 871511, by e-mail at mstewart@ecri.org.uk, by fax at (+44) 01707 393138 or by mail at ECRI Institute Europe, Weltech Centre, Ridgeway, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 2AA
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